Katy’s appointment reflects the increasing requirement for Cyber Security services among its existing Managed Services customers, as they attempt to defend themselves against the ever-shifting threat landscape. And they are not alone: the growing cyber security challenge is impacting private and public-sector organisations globally, with the World Economic Forum currently ranking Cyber Security as the biggest threat to the global economy.

We caught up with Katy to discuss a range of subjects including the experience she brings to the role, current cyber threat trends, and her advice for IT professionals seeking to capitalise on the high demand for Cyber security specialists.

What first attracted you to the IT industry?

Like many people, during my university studies for a bio sciences degree I realised I didn’t want to follow the path I had originally opted for. So, I applied for graduate roles and successfully gained a position at the DVSA, as part of their graduate junior management scheme, by demonstrating my transferable skills. It was a happy accident – information security was only just beginning to be acknowledged as a requirement and the Government mandated that all departments and agencies, including the DVSA, had to comply with what has now become ISO 27001. I found myself in an information security role and had to learn fast.

How did you know Cyber security was the right direction right for you?

From my DVSA role, I stayed in security, tending to follow more technical and operational rather than compliance focused positions. I really enjoy being challenged every day especially as the landscape shifts frequently as threats evolve – therefore I’m regularly required to push the limits of my ability, and use my experience, knowledge and creativity, particularly as attackers improve their tools and tactics.

You’ve joined Littlefish’s senior leadership team – what experience are you bringing to Littlefish?

I’ve spent ten years working with UK Government in cyber consultancy and architecture roles, and four years working for a blue chip aerospace industry client, leading the Security Operations Centre (SOC) in addition to the broader Security Intelligence and Compliance functions. During this time, I was frequently exposed to complex and deliberate threats (sometimes state-sponsored).

What Cyber services does Littlefish currently offer and how might the future services portfolio evolve?

We currently offer a range of services that complement our existing Managed Services.

Our CISO-as-a-Service (CISOaaS) provides board-level security expertise, consultancy and leadership, without the challenges of recruiting and retaining a highly-sought after full time employee, who is often difficult to justify financially. This begins with a detailed assessment and includes board level engagement and business case support, to help win investment for strengthening any critical weaknesses uncovered during the assessment, along with an ongoing Security Advisory Board to manage and evolve business as usual activity.

We also offer a User Education & Awareness service which focuses on transforming customer employees into a security asset, through tailored, engaging content, ongoing phishing tests, and a monthly management reporting pack.

Our Critical Hour Framework provides an actionable framework tailored to the customer’s existing security controls, enabling them to respond rapidly and effectively to contain threats when defensive countermeasures fail. This is really key, as response speed has a huge bearing on the impact caused by an attack and having this framework in place acknowledges that breaches are sometimes inevitable, even against the best technical defences.

We also deliver Penetration Testing, and Cloud security services, and are developing our Security Operations Centre (SOC) – an in-house monitoring, detection and response service – watch this space!

Having worked for a global IT outsourcer, what attracted you to join a rapidly growing SME?

This as a fantastic opportunity for me to make a significant impact on, and influence the direction of, a young and ambitious company. The chance to take full control of shaping the Cyber Security Practice and develop the services portfolio, including building new services completely from scratch, was very appealing.

The role suits my blend of hands-on, coalface experience and broad skill set, combined with my understanding of the wider landscape and how all the individual elements fit together to form the complete picture.

Littlefish specialises in providing Managed IT Services, notably Service Desk, End User Compute, Infrastructure Management, and IT Consultancy services – why has Littlefish chosen to invest in Cyber Security?

Cyber Security integrates seamlessly with our existing services – our Service Desk naturally provides many elements of a security service and we already provide an SC cleared secure Service Desk for numerous high-profile Government customers.

Integrating security with the support team is highly effective, providing true end-to-end accountability – for customers there is one provider taking responsibility for the whole service with no ‘fence chucking’. Orchestration is also much easier with one company, reducing response times and limiting the impact of breaches.

As a trusted partner, Littlefish customers frequently ask us to provide additional services of the same high quality so there is a clear opportunity to extend our portfolio and support our existing customers’ Cyber Security strategies.

How can an SME like Littlefish compete in the Cyber security space against global, £multi-bn suppliers, and how does Littlefish differentiate itself?

Littlefish has built its reputation for service excellence on its ability to provide highly flexible and personalised services, and the same will be true for our Cyber Security offerings. Our approach of delivering a core range of customer-focused services as a specialist provider, means we rapidly build up a very detailed understanding of our customers, their users and their wider estates.

This enhanced knowledge gives us a critical advantage in defending effectively against threats – where we already have great visibility with our Service Desk, Infrastructure and Operations teams.

What forms do cyber threats take and who is behind attacks?

Generally, the major threats of the past were state sponsored. Where previously there was a gulf between state sponsored and lower-level criminal capabilities, this gap has reduced significantly in recent years; cyber criminals and nation states are now much harder to distinguish – in fact, making that distinction has become a job in itself.

Ten years ago, criminal activity typically comprised teenage hackers and disorganised, low-budget and unorchestrated attacks. Today the picture is very different: by 2017 cybercrime was generating $1bn in the US alone and cyber-criminal enterprises are now much more common, with bigger budgets. They are increasingly industrialised, running full offices that work like regular businesses and provide full-time employment – they have dedicated teams responsible for various aspects of development and even include psychologists focusing on user weaknesses (especially useful in support of social engineering) and marketers to brand and market their ‘products’.

These enterprises are making cybercrime more accessible, providing shopping lists of threats such as phishing as a service, which often now include helpdesks that would-be attackers can ring for technical support.

In this environment, even for those organisations employing a robust multi-vendor approach to technical countermeasures, breaches are simply inevitable. Organisations must appreciate this inevitability and ensure they have frameworks in place for enabling fast and effective breach response and management.

You mentioned Phishing-as-a-Service as an example – what are the biggest cyber threats facing businesses right now?

The threats are multiple. Phishing certainly won’t go away because it remains very successful. Users have been at the heart of ninety-five percent of successful cyber attacks and with widespread uptake of the Cloud, users are now used to opening emails, clicking links and entering credentials, which gives attackers the opportunity to gain access. The adage in cyber security that users are the weakest link remains true. Raising users’ day-to-day consciousness of cyber security in their increasingly blurred professional and personal lives so security becomes second nature, and making them aware of the latest techniques would-be attackers are potentially using against them, is now more relevant than ever. But delivery of this awareness and education piece must become more engaging for users, or it will continue to fall short.

Beyond phishing, there has also been an increase in web application attacks over the last two to three years which prey on poor coding quality and application insecurity – which require niche expertise to defend against but can be mitigated by designing security in from the start and ensuring systems are maintained.

The evolving malware threat is also significant, with the development of ransomware with worm like capabilities such as WannaCry, Petya and NotPetya. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of these strains but perhaps something significant is being stored up. On the positive side, newer operating systems and improved anti-malware software are making it more challenging to create successful worm-like behaviours. This has driven a shift to using more malware-less attacks – that means more impersonation attempts and more credential harvesting and the blending of them together, which is difficult to counter using purely technical controls.

As the threats have continued to evolve, none of the overarching principles have particularly changed: the key challenge is to successfully balance risk with business needs.

How do you stay ahead of the curve when threats are so adaptive and growing at such pace?

Being involved in day to day SOC activity certainly helps, giving me a first-hand view of the threats. Other tools I use include open source intelligence feeds and making use of my network of cyber security peers at different organisations for threat sharing. But it’s tough: it can be difficult to predict the threats you might be facing until you’ve got visibility.

With the widespread adoption of the Cloud, and developments such as the Internet of Things, I’m presented with different kinds of challenges including applying old school principles to new technologies – implementing traditional controls now requires innovative thinking.

With a growing Cyber Security practice, you’re likely to be creating new opportunities over the coming years, so finally, what is your advice to someone wanting to get into Cyber Security?

If you aren’t already, start researching current threat trends and develop an ongoing and up to date understanding of the threat environment – there are loads of open source tools out there so go and explore them and don’t expect to be spoon fed. Try and develop an understanding of how attackers are behaving and the methods they are using. Read relevant industry news sources, and keep an eye on the mainstream media too (there’s not a month that goes by where a high-profile breach doesn’t make headlines).

Some of the most important traits to be successful in this field are curiosity and tenacity, and a real passion for Cyber Security, so I always look for people who can demonstrate these attributes.

About Katy Hinchcliffe

Littlefish Head of Cyber Security Katy Hinchcliffe, is a highly regarded Cyber Security leader. With over a decade’s experience delivering a broad range of Cyber Security services to enterprise clients for global IT outsourcer Capgemini, notably managing the prevent, detect and respond functions on behalf of Rolls-Royce, Katy is now responsible for developing Littlefish’s Cyber Security practice.

The post Meet Katy Hinchcliffe – Littlefish Head of Cyber Security appeared first on Managed IT Services | Littlefish.

Hinchcliffe, who joins Littlefish from Capgemini, where she led the Global Cyber Security outsourced capability for clients including HMRC and Rolls-Royce, brings a wealth of experience to her new role.

Reflecting the increasing requirement for Cyber Security services among its existing Managed Services customers, as they attempt to defend themselves against the ever-shifting threat landscape, Littlefish is making significant investment into the expansion of its Cyber practice.

The appointment of Hinchcliffe to the Littlefish Senior Management Team is the latest example of the ambitious company’s ability to attract and hire highly regarded talent, with proven experience at enterprise organisations, into key positions. Investment in Cyber marks the next milestone in Littlefish’s strategic growth plan, which has seen it consistently achieve CAGR of >40% in recent years, leading to office expansion and an ongoing recruitment campaign to fill a number of newly created roles.

Littlefish Services Director Richard Roome commented:

“Investing in the expansion of our Cyber practice is a natural progression for our Services portfolio and forms part of our long-term growth strategy – not only are our existing Managed Services customers increasingly seeking our support in combatting the latest cyber threats, we see the Service Desk as a central component in any organisations Cyber strategy, acting both as the front line and early warning system.”

He continued:

“The appointment of someone of Katy’s calibre and reputation, to develop our Cyber Security Services offering, is testament to our ambition as an organisation, and reinforces our position as a highly credible alternative to the ‘usual suspect’ IT outsourcers in the mid-market and enterprise. We’re delighted to welcome her to the team.”

Littlefish Head of Cyber Security Katy Hinchcliffe said:

“I’m thrilled to join Littlefish. Cyber security services integrate seamlessly with the existing services Littlefish offers, Managed Services customers are highly engaged and want to achieve the same levels of service excellence across other areas, including security. The Service Desk plays a crucial role in security and integrating security with support services, improves orchestration and responsiveness, and offers customers end-to-end accountability.”

She added:

“With intimate knowledge, understanding and visibility of our customers’ organisations and their IT estates, through our Service Desk and Infrastructure and Operations teams, we are uniquely positioned to improve their security, with a more flexible and personal service than larger organisations are able to offer. Leading the development of Littlefish’s Cyber practice is a fantastic opportunity and I am relishing the challenge.”

Learn more about Littlefish Cyber Security Services.

About Littlefish

Littlefish is an award winning and rapidly growing Managed IT Services Provider. Through a focused growth plan, it has become an established and credible alternative to the ‘usual suspect’ large Multi £Billion Managed Service Providers and IT Outsourcers in the mid-market and enterprise.

Its purpose is to disrupt the conventional Managed IT Services models – where the usual suspects typically fail to perform – by delivering service solutions that are tailored to the precise needs of organisations and which are communicated in clear and straightforward language.

About Katy Hinchcliffe

Littlefish Head of Cyber Security Katy Hinchcliffe, is a highly regarded cyber security leader. With over a decade’s experience delivering a broad range of cyber security services to enterprise clients for global IT outsourcer Capgemini, notably managing the prevent, detect and respond functions on behalf of Rolls-Royce, Katy is now responsible for developing Littlefish’s Cyber Security practice.

The post Littlefish appoints Head of Cyber Security to lead Cyber practice expansion appeared first on Managed IT Services | Littlefish.

Managed IT Services provider Littlefish has been appointed by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) to deliver a range of IT managed services to support its newly disaggregated approach to IT service procurement and delivery.

The initial three-year deal, worth £7.5m, demonstrates the capacity and capability of Littlefish, and includes the provision of 24/7/365 Service Desk; end user and desktop support; connectivity; cloud application management; service availability and business continuity; security; service integration and management; IT innovation and transformation; and transition.

Cafcass, the organisation responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children going through the family justice system, sought a new lead supplier who could offer exceptional service quality and selected Littlefish from the prospective bidders.

Following the successful transfer of service from the previous supplier, Littlefish now provides the managed IT service operation to Cafcass, supporting nearly 2,000 users across 35 offices, improving user experience and driving higher levels of user satisfaction. Users can communicate with the Littlefish 24/7 Service Desk using situation appropriate communication channels including telephone, Littlefish Live (Instant Messenger), Littlefish Lens (Augmented Reality), and self-help portal, at a time and pace convenient to them – essential for Cafcass’ many remote workers.

Building upon the governance and leadership of the internal Cafcass IT team, led by CIO Rob Langley, Littlefish demonstrated both its ability to exceed the core requirements and its capability and willingness to adapt to the needs of Cafcass and its users, from the initial engagement, during the competitive procurement process, and onwards through transition.

Cafcass CIO Rob Langley commented;

“Following a thorough competition, we were confident that Littlefish gave us the right mix of reliability and flexibility to partner with for the next phase of our transformation and to support our staff in remaining ‘Outstanding’ following this year’s Ofsted judgement.”

Littlefish Managing Director, Steve Robinson remarked;

“Undoubtedly, this has been our most challenging transfer of service: not only were we taking on first point of contact calls, but we had to refresh every staff laptop over a very short period. This was a monumental effort from every party which resulted in a new IT service for users, and improvements are already being recognised. We will continue to demonstrate the difference from old to new.”

About the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass)

Cafcass represents children in family court cases in England. It puts children’s needs, wishes and feelings first, ensuring children’s voices are heard at the heart of the family court setting, and that decisions are made in their best interests.

Its duty is to safeguard and promote the welfare of children going through the family justice system. Its experienced Family Court Advisers may be asked by the court to work with families and then advise the court on what they consider to be the best interests of the children involved in three main areas:

• Divorce and separation, sometimes called ‘private law’, where parents or carers can’t agree on arrangements for their children.
• Dare proceedings, sometimes called ‘public law’, where social services have serious concerns about the safety or welfare of a child.
• Adoption, which can be either public or private law.

CAFCASS has nearly 2000 staff across 35 offices in England and is the largest employer of social workers in the UK.

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Littlefish will now compete against the likes of Managed 24/7 and SCC in October’s judging round which will decide this year’s finalists.

The Channel Award shortlisting is the latest in a successful year for Littlefish, which has seen the rapidly growing Managed IT Services provider named ‘One To Watch’ in the Sunday Times Best Companies 2018, a finalist at the Service Desk Institute Awards, a finalist at the Customer Experience Awards, a finalist in the Nottingham Post Business Awards ‘Company of The Year’ category, and winner of the ‘Customer Service Excellence’ category at the same awards.

Littlefish Sales & Marketing Director Mark Petty commented;

“We’re thrilled to be shortlisted at such a widely recognised IT industry award, particularly in its 25th anniversary year.”

He added:

“Our 2018 award success is testament to the continued efforts of everyone here at Littlefish, as we strive to deliver truly exceptional experiences to our customers and their people. It reflects our strong business performance which is generating consistent growth, illustrated by our current recruitment campaign.”

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Littlefish offers multilingual IT support services to over 35,000 people globally, working at highly prestigious customers such as The Houses of Parliament, vet charity PDSA, and high-street jeweller Signet Group (H Samuel & Ernest Jones). Several recent and anticipated new contract wins continue to fuel the company’s sustained growth, which means it is currently seeking around 50 new employees across a range of IT roles including Service Desk Engineers, Service Management Analysts and Service Delivery Managers.

David Cook, Chief Commercial Officer at Nottingham Forest, said:

“A key strategic approach for the club is to grow and develop relationships with leading businesses in Nottingham, so Littlefish is a perfect partner. As the Football Club continues to grow, on and off the pitch, we need likeminded partners that match our vision and ambition. Like ourselves, Littlefish have clear goals, and we very much look forward to working with them over the coming season.”

Littlefish Managing Director, Steve Robinson, commented:

“Our partnership with Nottingham Forest will not only increase local awareness of Littlefish as an employer of choice, it will also contribute to our staff engagement programme, providing additional rewards we can offer our employees, in addition to our extensive investment in personal development, training, accreditations and existing staff benefits.”

“Littlefish has strong Nottingham roots so we’re excited to partner with Nottingham’s leading sports organisation and to be a part of the magic and excitement of live sport in the city. Nottingham Forest have a huge fan base and clearly have big ambitions for this season and beyond – this resonates with our aim to be known as one of Nottingham’s best employers. Consistent growth is regularly creating progression opportunities for members of our team and we’re currently expanding our vibrant Lace Market offices to accommodate our growth – it’s a fantastic time to join us.”

If you’re interested in learning more about the range of vacancies currently available at Littlefish, visit our IT careers page.

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9:32pm on a Friday evening in the UK. Thunder rumbles softly as rain pelts the flagstones outside the 18th century former lace factory in Nottingham, cutting through the hot, humid summer air, as the drought finally breaks.

29-degree, high humidity days, are normal in Guanajuato in late July, where it’s 3:32pm on Friday afternoon. As María tries to log in to a web portal, she gets an error message telling her the server is down. The page won’t load. The message fills her with dread. She has an hour left to generate and file her weekly reports before she must leave on time to catch her flight – she’s heading to a weekend family gathering that’s been planned for months. She picks up the phone and calls the IT Service Desk.

5,500 miles away in Nottingham, it takes Chris a few seconds to pick up the phone. María recognises Chris from a previous call. As he calmly re-assures her in Spanish, her native tongue, she relaxes a little. Chris asks María to click on her desktop LF Live icon so he can work on a solution in the background, meanwhile, she can continue to work. As María works, Chris isolates the problem: it lies with the 3rd party software and is thankfully minor. While he speaks to the software provider he logs the issue so it can be monitored for re-occurrence, and records the solution, saving vital seconds and preventing duplication if one of his colleagues in the ‘Pod’ picks up a similar issue in the future.

At 3:43pm Central Daylight Time, María receives a call from the IT Service Desk. Chris is aware of María’s urgency so briefly explains what caused the issue, before confirming it’s now resolved and will be monitored closely. He wishes her a good weekend and she thanks him, taking a moment to rate her support session as ‘Excellent’ before getting back to her vital reports. She’s going to leave on time and make her flight.

Although María’s example is fictitious, the narrative and user experience are typical of the many real-life interactions that play out 24 hours a day in the best modern Service Desks – reflecting the fundamental shift in focus from technology, to the people using services and technologies.

Organisations are reliant on digital technologies – email, websites, software tools – IT is now the central nervous system of business.

Despite this, many organisations still view the ‘IT department’ as a cost centre rather than a value enabler. But things are changing. While cost reductions remain a business goal, progressive organisations increasingly look beyond ‘efficiencies’, to the potential value IT can add to the organisation. IT is viewed less as a ‘department’ and more as a business driver – with people at its centre. Specialist providers are often chosen to deliver all, or part of the service.

Consider the overall benefit to a business, when its users can expect a response within seconds during those high stress moments after something has gone wrong, and when most problems can be fixed during that first point of contact.

Over 12.5 million working days were lost due to workplace stress in the UK in 2016-2017, according to the Health and Safety Executive’s 2017 report. Seemingly minor contributing factors like poor Service Desk response can potentially impact employee well-being, with the knock-on effect of reducing productivity.

Think about all the processes and tasks people perform at work each day. Imagine if the time required to perform those tasks was reduced by just 1%, freeing up time to work on other projects. The potential impact of effective collaboration between IT and the wider business is huge, meaning IT is now considered a business transformer.

One company positioned at the heart of this seismic change, is Managed Services Provider Littlefish. From its Lace Market home, Littlefish provides 24/7 multilingual support services to over 35,000 people working at organisations worldwide. Littlefish services support customers as they undergo this transformation, revolving around its industry leading Service Desk.

Service Desk roles are now constantly adapting to keep pace with the shift in focus towards business value and user-experience, and can provide a solid foundation for many successful IT industry careers paths.

Alongside gaining new technical skills on the job, there are opportunities for more formal qualifications. The Littlefish Academy for example, gives employees access to the leading online training platform so they can achieve industry recognised certifications and accreditations, complimenting hands-on learning.

For Littlefish, this means its Service Desk teams are highly qualified and able to resolve a higher number of customer problems at the first point of engagement. For its employees, not only does this mean broader knowledge and recognised qualifications, it also results in pay increases beyond annual salary reviews.

Littlefish Service Improvement Manager Becky Roberts explained the Academy’s purpose:

“The IT industry is moving very quickly and we need to ensure our engineering teams are kept up to date with the latest technologies, so we developed the Littlefish [training] Academy. Using the industry leading online training platform, we deliver easy to manage bitesize chunks so our teams can fit learning around their busy lives. We’ve also introduced actor-led role play based training focused on specific situations. We’re giving our engineers the technical and soft skills to support our customers and deliver them genuine business value.”

The ‘coalface’ nature of Service Desk roles makes them ideal development grounds for vital soft skills including communication, empathy, adaptive learning and relationship building – all essential attributes for successful business leadership. Likewise, exposure to users across a diverse range of organisations, the case for Managed Services Providers’ Service Desk agents, develops in-depth understanding of various industries. As the central focal point for IT services, Service Desk staff work collaboratively with other IT functions – such as the teams who manage infrastructure or implement cloud projects, meaning opportunities to learn other disciplines, and to progress their careers faster.

Littlefish Operations Director Mike Relf explained the opportunity:

“At Littlefish teams work collaboratively in open plan offices, sitting side by side with senior managers. Our rapid growth is inevitably generating new roles, and in this kind of environment it isn’t difficult for people to progress.”

He added:

“There are several recent examples of people who have been promoted within months of starting here, because they demonstrated the right attitude, experience and skills to thrive in newly created positions. For ambitious individuals, this is a fantastic opportunity.”

If you’re interested in learning more about the range of vacancies currently available at Littlefish, visit our IT careers page.

This article first appeared in the Metro on 2nd August 2018

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Despite Nottingham having the lowest employment rate in the UK at 58.6% in the ONS July bulletin, the Powerhouse City Growth tracker forecasts that the city will again lead the East Midlands for both GVA (the value of goods and services produced) and employment  growth (the number of people in work) in the final quarter of 2018.

Meanwhile the number of new tech companies in the East Midlands rose 50% year on year in 2017, while the UK tech sector as a whole is growing 2.6% quicker than the rest of the UK economy.

As one of six UK Science Cities and home to two universities, Nottingham has enjoyed significant investment in recent years with an improved transport network, better leisure facilities and the arrival of end to end fibre broadband as a newly minted Gigabit City.

A thriving tech scene supported by networks such as Tech Nottingham and Women in Tech, homegrown start-up success stories, and global brands committing to the city, means there’s a real interest in Nottingham, which groups like Invest in Nottingham are working hard to capitalise on. If you’re currently looking for employment in the city, that’s good news: investment leads to growth, meaning more opportunities of higher quality.

Nottingham’s relatively low living costs and good housing affordability compared to other parts of the UK, a high quality of life, a high proportion of people under 30, and a very accessible city centre with a well-deserved reputation for nightlife and leisure, see it increasingly considered a great place to work for people entering employment.

The challenge facing employers in Nottingham is a lack of skilled workers to fill the 19,741 digital jobs currently available, according to TechNation. Therefore, there are real opportunities for people with tech skills to get a foot in the door and carve out a career for themselves.

Companies like Littlefish are at the forefront of generating new tech jobs in the city. The Nottingham 24/7 IT Managed Services Provider, which serves more than 35,000 people working at companies globally from its Stoney Street HQ, has built a formidable reputation for disrupting the IT industry with its focus on operational efficiency and service excellence.

Already supporting a wide variety of household name organisations such as vet charity PDSA, the Houses of Parliament, and retailer Signet Group (H Samuel and Ernest & Jones jewellers) to name a few, the company, which currently employs around 170 people, is frequently winning business from global IT outsourcers (affectionately referred to as the ‘usual suspects’).

Major recent contract wins have created over 50 new roles at Littlefish’s Nottingham head office and service centre. Renovation work is currently underway at its historic Lace Market home to increase capacity, for the second time in less than a year. Multiple IT Service Desk Engineers and Service Management Analysts are required to provide the  company’s core IT support services, as well as IT Project Managers, and more senior IT management roles including Service Delivery Managers and Service Transition Managers.

The company recognises the challenge of being an attractive option to potential recruits with so many great employers in the city, and has worked hard to develop a people-first culture.

Managing Director Steve Robinson explained their goal:

“Our ambition is to be considered a real destination employer in Nottingham. We want to achieve the same levels of excitement and buzz that surrounded the arrival of Capital One in the city in the late 90s, and to compete with the big names in Nottingham as a company synonymous with providing fantastic career opportunities. In turn this will enable us to meet our organisational objectives, cutting through procurement apathy and disrupting the mid-market and enterprise managed IT services marketplace, by demonstrating that there is a genuine high quality proposition out there.”

He continued:

“We’ve invested heavily in building up a great career development platform. The Littlefish [Training] Academy gives our employees access to industry leading training resources, providing the tools they need to achieve industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, increasing their knowledge and skills and rewarding them financially as they progress. It’s an exciting time to join us – our fantastic business performance is creating a number of new roles, and as we continue to grow it naturally opens progression pathways for ambitious team members.”

Littlefish offers the kind of employee benefits you’d expect from a progressive employer. Modern, vibrant office spaces in a converted historic Lace Market factory feature a breakout area with table tennis and gaming facilities, and employees enjoy a casual dress policy, adding to the relaxed atmosphere. It provides pension contributions, access to a comprehensive employee benefits platform, subsidised travel and cycle to work schemes. Employees also enjoy free refreshments, fresh fruit, pick n mix and pizza Friday’s, a Summer Family BBQ and regular company socials. It also continues to innovate in order to differentiate itself as a great employer.

Recognising the number of gamers within the company, Littlefish recently introduced gamification. A state of the art gamification platform has been integrated with live customer service metrics, and games are played within and between teams, focused on specific goals. The teams just finished playing a World Cup style competition. As well as introducing fun and healthy competition to drive customer service, individuals and teams are rewarded with prizes including vouchers and the latest gadgets.

Sales & Marketing Director Mark Petty helped develop the brand messaging around the people first, customer-centric culture that emanates from Littlefish. He explains the purpose behind the companies #PeopleMatter approach:

“We have set a very high bar in terms of the experience and service quality our customers’ people receive, but we are determined to continue driving our current world-class standards even higher. We’re at the leading edge of delivering the experience people deserve when they reach out for IT support. The impact exceptional service has on people’s lives should not be overlooked. We hear from our customers that their people are less stressed and more productive as a result of our services – which is a win-win situation.”

He added:

“We firmly believe that in order to deliver services that put our customers’ people first, we must put our own people first. Making our people feel valued, rewarding their successes, offering them a fantastic working environment and building an inclusive and vibrant culture, means they are happy. This naturally permeates into the service they deliver, enabling them to consistently deliver exceptional service. This happiness and energy is contagious and is felt by the people who we serve. We call our approach #PeopleMatter and we live by this mantra throughout the company.”

If you’re interested in learning more about the range of vacancies currently available at Littlefish visit our IT careers page.

This article first appeared in the East Midlands Metro newspaper.

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The UK Customer Experience Awards, the biggest CX event of its kind in the world, recognises ‘inspiring organisations who are delivering an outstanding customer experience’.

The finals, held at Wembley Stadium in October, will see Littlefish present to the Customer Experience Awards judging panel ahead of the evening awards ceremony. Littlefish will face tough competition on the day from the likes of Tata Communications, QEII Centre, Addison Lee and Audley Travel.

Littlefish Sales & Marketing Director Mark Petty commented:

“Customers are truly at the heart of our organisation and we’re proud to have our customer-focused culture recognised, by being named finalists of such a prestigious award, and in such a key category.”

He continued:

“Throughout our submission we demonstrated our laser-like focus on, and commitment to, improving the experience of our customers and their users. This is evidenced through our world-class customer satisfaction and performance metrics, and our exceptional customer retention rates, which have contributed to our strong, consistent growth.”

The announcement follows a number of recent award successes: Littlefish was named ‘One To Watch’ in the 2018 Sunday Times Best Companies; a finalist at the Service Desk Institute Awards; a finalist in the ‘Company of The Year’ category and winner in the ‘Customer Service Excellence’ category at the Nottingham Post Business Awards; and Service Desk Administrator Holly Palmer was named ‘Young ITSM Professional of The Year’ at the ITSM Awards.

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Littlefish surveyed over 100 IT decision makers (ITDMs) to identify the issues that are holding them back. This is what we learned.

The most common issues

By far the biggest issue for IT professionals is the number of “mundane tasks” that need to be completed. Keeping the lights on is time consuming and resource intensive – and nearly one third of respondents think it’s preventing them from completing strategic projects that will support and enhance business performance.

Ideally, the IT leader would be able to delegate some of these tasks to the rest of their team – but that too is a problem. One in five businesses say they lack key skills and talent, so it may be that there’s simply no one to delegate to. Keeping the lights on starts to look more like fighting a fire.

Even in an age of increased automation and autonomous systems, people are incredibly important. The most important factor for productive and efficient operations is having the right people and skills in place, according to 46% of IT decision makers.

Throw money at the problem

The obvious solution to skills shortages is to boost recruitment – but budget constraints create yet another hurdle for ITDMs. Over a quarter (26%) are already struggling with insufficient finance, leaving nothing to spend on hiring. And of those ITDMs who do have a recruitment budget, almost half (41%) do not believe they have enough to hire the talent they need.

And money is not the only problem with recruitment. Complaints about talent availability (16%) or a lack of skills and experience (16%) suggest that ITDMs often can’t find the people they need.

Increase use of outsourcing?

More than 70% of businesses already make use of managed IT services, helping to plug the skills gap. But even here there are problems; a third of ITDMs believe that outsourcing is too expensive, and 36% say they’re not getting value for money. In fact, a mere 5% of respondents rate the service they receive as ‘very good’.

Money seems to be at the root of every IT issue – either a lack of cash to invest in much-needed people and systems, or a failure to realise the expected returns on investments previously made.

Some ITDMs are seeing results

If you’re concerned about outsourcing partnerships, you’re not alone. Dissatisfaction about cost and value for money are joined by complaints about responsiveness and the overall level of customer service received.

But there is clear evidence that outsourcing does resolve budget problems – if the right IT partner is selected. One-fifth (20%) of ITDMs report that they receive service excellence and value for money from their partnerships for instance. And 40% report that their outsourced service desk delivers “good” or “very good” cost-effectiveness.

The same benefits are true of skills shortages – again if the right IT partner is selected. Almost 50% of ITDMs identify access to extra skills and resources as the most valuable aspect of outsourcing.

The report findings prove that the claims of outsourcing providers can be realised. Carefully chosen, well-managed outsourcing really does free up internal resources and provide access to much needed skills. Which means that ITDMs can finally focus resources and investment on the strategic projects that will drive the business forwards.

The choice of IT partner is crucial

Regardless of industry or corporate headcount, ITDMs report the same issues consistently – time, money and skills. Many are already using third-party outsourcing to mitigate these problems, but with mixed results.

For every ITDM reporting satisfaction with their outsourcing partner, there is another who isn’t pleased with their partnership and outcomes. It’s clear that identifying the right partner has a major effect on how successful outsourcing can be.

Outsourcing is not an entirely passive process. The businesses reporting the best outcomes from their agreements are proactive – both in identifying suitable providers, and in building an ongoing relationship that ensures their issues are being addressed properly.

The solution to the most common IT issues is not simply outsourcing. It is identifying the right partner first.

Key takeaways

• A lack of time, money and skills are the biggest threat to strategic IT projects.
• ITDMs don’t have the money to invest in solving their in-house skills shortages.
• Some ITDMs report serious dissatisfaction with their outsourcing agreements.
• The choice of IT outsourcing partner determines ultimate success or failure.
• Time, money and skill shortages can be solved with the correct IT outsourcing partner.

The post The Littlefish Digital Transformation Survey: Healthy Habits: Common IT issues appeared first on Managed IT Services | Littlefish.

The awards gala dinner took place last week in London, where supported by members of the Littlefish team, Holly was announced as the winner. The category recognises ITSM professionals under the age of 30, who show an “outstanding level of achievement, ability, team support, rapid progress or impact in the early years of their career.”

Winning is a fantastic achievement and very proud moment in Holly’s career, especially as she was nominated for the award by a colleague. She said: “This award means a lot to me because it is a physical reminder of what I have accomplished and how quickly I’ve progressed. I was very surprised to be nominated and to then find out I was a finalist. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience of completing the presentation on my progress and the judges were very warm and welcoming. I would like to thank Jon Morley, Littlefish, Historic England and English Heritage for advising and supporting me over the last 18 months and I look forward to seeing what comes our way over the next 18 months.”

Since working in IT, Holly’s understanding and knowledge of ITSM has grown exponentially. For her ITSM ‘focuses on the operations side, with involvement in the transition of projects and monitoring performance day to day to find areas for improvement.’ The win is also a recognition of the hard work and effort she puts in everyday to continually ensure Littlefish customers receive the best service possible.

Richard Roome, Services Director added: “We are delighted that Holly’s accomplishments at Littlefish have been recognised and rewarded by the itSMF UK. It is to her great credit and very much reflects the commitment she has shown during her time with us. Holly has a bright future ahead of her and we look forward to seeing her career flourish even further at Littlefish.”

Prior to Holly’s win, we had the opportunity to catch-up with her and find out more about her career in ITSM and what the nomination meant to her, read it here.

The post Holly Palmer – ‘Young ITSM Professional of The Year’ winner appeared first on Managed IT Services | Littlefish.